How the Hotel Economist Can Use Big Data to Gain Competitive Edge

With new technology becoming available, there are fresh opportunities arising for thehotel economist to better collect analytics and understand their customer demographic. With customer data, you can then start to build a better understanding of what expectations may be of your hotel and work to not only meet those wants, but exceed them. Here are some key steps you can take to start using big data to your advantage.The first step is collecting data on your hotel’s visitors. A good way to do this could be to use one electronic system that combines information from the check-in system, the VIP list, and the sales system. This allows you to have all of the information collected in one place, giving you a more complete picture of what is going on in your business. This information can then be organized to help you find trends in the data, which could then be used to piece together who your average customer is. The next step can be to put this information to work for you. Now that you have your key consumer demographic identified, start working to cater to it. Adjust your marketing efforts to help best connect with your customer. Find out which social media networks are most popular with your key demographic and use their advertising tools. Data is not only helpful for the hotel economist looking for areas of improvement, but it also can provide a reference to track success. With information on file, you may be able to see if customers are coming back, if more money is being spent, when you are the busiest and how seasonality affects you, which rooms book the best, which events draw the best crowds and more. Once you have this data to work with and compare, you may be able to adjust your business to do more of what works and less of what doesn’t. Using big data can help the hotel economist gain insight on customers, giving them a better experience and your business a competitive edge.